30 Scenarios in 30 Days: The Steelers will have a winning record at home in 2025
The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for the 2025 regular season, but before the real games begin, the team has to head to training camp back at Saint Vincent College in order to fine tune their skills. As we here at SCN prepare you for the start of camp, we give you a series called “30 Scenarios in 30 Days” which gives you a Steelers scenario every day leading up to the start of camp.
It is simple how it works. We provide you the scenario, reasons why it will or won’t happen, and then our prediction for what we think will take place.
Let’s get to the scenario…
Scenario: The Steelers will have a winning record at home in 2025
Why it will happen: As I’ve said many times before, a good recipe for an NFL team to have a successful season is to win all their home games and split their games on the road. Back when it was a 16-game season, this would put a team at 12–4. While winning all your home games is a tall task, winning most of them is expected if a team is a playoff contender.
Even though they haven’t had recent success in the postseason, the Steelers are annually playoff contenders. This is why the last time the Steelers had a losing record at home was the 1999 season where they went 2–6 and finished the year 6–10. To put this in perspective, this season was where the Steelers finished fourth place out of six teams in the AFC Central division, three years before the formation of the AFC North.
Since the scenario is about more than having a losing record, the Steelers have gone .500 at home only three times since that 1999 losing season. Those three seasons, where the Steelers finished 4–4 in Pittsburgh, 2000, 2003, and 2022. So not having a winning record at home for the Steelers is a rarity. In 2024, the Steelers went 5-3 in Pittsburgh.
Why it won’t happen: Over the last three seasons, the Steelers haven’t been getting it done at home with any kind of confidence. Last year at 5-3 has been their best home record since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. In 2023 they went 5-4 while going 4-4 in 2022.
The other thing to look at the Steelers possibly not having a winning record at home this year is their opponents. Three of the eight games are in the AFC North division, and as we have seen throughout the years is that anything is possible in these games. When it comes to the other five games, two of them are against teams that were in the playoffs in 2024 in the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills. Additionally, the Seattle Seahawks won 10 games in 2024 but simply didn’t have the tiebreakers to get into the postseason. These are three quality opponents that will be tough wins even at home. If the Steelers drop two games of these three, and two of their three division games, the best they can do is 500.
Even the other two home opponents the Steelers have aren’t necessarily “bottom of the barrel“ teams based on their 2024 record. Both the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts finished just below .500 in 2024 at 8–9. When looking at it, the Steelers don’t have any “easy wins“ in Pittsburgh in 2025.
Because of this, and looking at the Steelers schedule in a very difficult AFC North, finishing the season 4–4 at home would not be a huge surprise.
Prediction: One thing of note is I did say “in Pittsburgh” and not simply the Steelers being the designated home team. Even though the Steelers are set to have 9 home games, only 8 of them will be played in Pittsburgh as the Steelers will host the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4 in Dublin. For me, I will only be looking at the games played in Pittsburgh which brings a .500 record into play.
Although the Steelers have not been dominant at home in the last three seasons, and they have some tough opponents coming to Pittsburgh, there’s just something about playing at Acrisure Stadium that gives the Steelers enough of an advantage to pull out victories. While they might not be anywhere close to going undefeated at home, I think the Steelers can get at least five wins in Pittsburgh.
Miss a scenario? You can see the full list of scenarios below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for training camp.
The Steelers will go above and beyond their win-loss prediction in 2025
The Steelers will throw more INTs than last season
The Steelers will eclipse 50 sacks in 2025
The Steelers Defense Will Have More Takeaways This Season
Aaron Rodgers will start all 17 games in 2025
DK Metcalf Will Have Double-Digit Receiving TDs
T.J. Watt will break the single-season sack record
The Steelers Will Rush For More Than 2000 Yards In 2025
The Steelers will have a Top 5 Rush Defense
Jalen Ramsey will return to the Pro Bowl in 2025
The Steelers will have a winning record in the AFC North
